For so long, the Epstein story has cast them in a cameo role.

Everyday coverage of the scandal churns through the politics and process of it all, reducing their suffering to a passing reference.

Not anymore.

Not on a morning when they gathered on Capitol Hill, survivors of Epstein‘s abuse, strengthened by shared experience and a resolve to address it.

In a news conference that lasted over an hour, they brought an authenticity that only they could.

There was vivid recollection of the abuse they endured and a certainty in the justice they seek.

They had the safety of each other – adults now, with the horrors of youth at a distance, though never far away.

It was an emotional gathering on Capitol Hill, attended by survivors, politicians and several hundred members of the public who turned up in support.

Banners read “Release the files”, “Listen to the victims” and “Even your MAGA base demands Epstein files”.

A startling spectacle

That last statement isn’t lost on Donald Trump. As if for emphasis, one of the speakers was the ultra-loyal House representative Marjorie Taylor Greene – they don’t make them more MAGA.

In a spectacle, startling to politics-watchers in this town, she stood side by side with Democrat congressmen to demand the Epstein files be released.

It reflects a discontent spread through Donald Trump’s support base.

He is the man who once counted Jeffrey Epstein as a friend and who has said he’d release the files, only to reverse course.

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Trump’s vulnerability

The Epstein files is the slow-burner that won’t go out, a story that exposes Trump’s vulnerability.

Just how vulnerable can be measured on Congress, where politicians need only a couple of Republicans to back legislation demanding full publication.

It bears the shape of a loyalty test to the president and the dynamics of that have changed with the survivors stepping forward.

One by one, they presented a thunderous reminder of the people and the moral imperative at the heart of the Jeffrey Epstein saga.

It’s political, sure, but it’s about much more – that, we saw on Capitol Hill.

A woman known as the “Ketamine Queen” has officially pleaded guilty to selling Friends star Matthew Perry the drug that killed him.

Jasveen Sangha initially denied the charges but agreed to change her plea in a signed statement in August, just a few weeks before she had been due to stand trial.

The 42-year-old , a dual citizen of the US and the UK, has now appeared in a federal court in Los Angeles to plead guilty to five charges, including supplying the ketamine that led to Perry‘s death.

She faces up to 65 years in prison after admitting one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.

Prosecutors agreed to drop three other counts related to the distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of methamphetamine that was unrelated to the Perry case.

In a brief statement when the plea deal was announced, her lawyer Mark Geragos said she was “taking responsibility for her actions”.

The judge is not bound to follow any terms of the plea agreement, but prosecutors have said they will ask for less than the maximum possible sentence.

Perry died aged 54 in October 2023. He had struggled with addiction for years, but released a memoir a year before his death during a period of being clean.

He had been using ketamine through his regular doctor as a legal, but off-label, treatment for depression, but in the weeks before his death had also started to seek more of the drug illegally.

Perry bought large amounts of ketamine from Sangha, including 25 vials for $6,000 (£4,458) in cash four days before his death, prosecutors said.

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Sangha, described by prosecutors as the “Ketamine Queen of North Hollywood”, is now the fifth and final person to plead guilty to charges connected to the supply of drugs to the Friends star.

The actor’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, an acquaintance Erik Fleming, and a physician, Mark Chavez, all agreed to plead guilty when the charges were announced in August 2024.

Another doctor, Salvador Plasencia, initially pleaded not guilty and had been due to face trial alongside Sangha, but changed his plea in July.

Sangha and Plasencia had been the primary targets of the investigation.

The three other defendants: Chavez, Iwamasa and Fleming pleaded guilty in exchange for their co-operation, which included statements implicating Sangha and Plasencia.

Perry had bought ketamine from Sangha after he was led to her by Fleming, prosecutors said.

On the day of Perry’s death, Sangha told Fleming they should delete all the messages they had sent each other, according to Sangha’s indictment.

Sangha is due to be sentenced on 10 December.

The other four defendants are also still awaiting sentencing.

Perry was one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing in Friends – which ran on NBC between 1994 and 2004.

He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for all 10 seasons of the show.

The Friends stars were among around 20 mourners who attended his funeral in November 2023, according to TMZ.

The deployment of National Guard soldiers on to the streets of LA by Donald Trump was always deeply controversial – and now it has been deemed illegal, too, by a federal judge.

In late spring in Los Angeles, I observed as peaceful protests against immigration raids turned confrontational.

I watched as Waymos – self-driving cars – were set alight and people waving flags shut down one of the city’s busiest freeways. I saw government buildings spray-painted with anti-government sentiment and expletives. Some people even threw bottles at police officers in riot gear.

In exchange, I saw law enforcement deploy “flash bang” crowd control devices and fire rubber bullets into crowds, indiscriminately, on occasion.

It was chaotic at times, violent, even, in a corner of the downtown area of the city. But I didn’t witness anything that suggested police were on the brink of being overcome by rioters. I didn’t see anything that I believe justified the deployment of 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 marines to the heart of America’s second-biggest city.

But Trump sent them in anyway, against the wishes of the local government. LA mayor Karen Bass condemned the deployment as an act of political theatre and said it risked stoking tensions.

The language Trump used was, arguably, inflammatory, too. He described LA as an “invaded” and “occupied city”. He spoke of “a full-blown assault on peace”, carried out by “rioters bearing foreign flags with the aim of continuing a foreign invasion of our country”.

It didn’t reflect reality. The size of the protests were modest, several thousand people marching through a handful of streets in downtown LA, a city which spans 500 square miles and has a population of almost four million.

The majority of the soldiers simply stood guard outside government buildings, often looking bored. Some of them are still here, with nothing to do. Now a judge has ruled that the operation was illegal.

US District Judge Charles Breyer said the Trump administration “used armed soldiers (whose identity was often obscured by protective armour) and military vehicles to set up protective perimeters and traffic blockades, engage in crowd control, and otherwise demonstrate a military presence in and around Los Angeles”.

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In a scathing judgement, he effectively accused the White House of turning National Guard soldiers and marines into a “national police force.”

That breaches a law from 1878, barring the use of soldiers for civilian law enforcement activities.

It is a blow to what some view as the president’s ambition to federalise Democrat-run cities and deploy the National Guard in other states around the country. He had threatened to send troops to Chicago as part of an initiative he says is cracking down on crime, widening the use of National Guard troops, as seen on the streets of Washington DC.

But since this judge ruled that the deployment of National Guard and marines to LA in June was unlawful in the way it unfolded, Trump may have to be inventive with his rationale for sending soldiers into other US cities in the future.

This legal judgement, though, is being appealed and may well be overturned. Either way, it is unlikely to stem the president’s ambition to act as national police chief.